Plucking is something that shouldn't be done on the face or neck, specifically the beard. Eyebrows are ok but the beard including those areas getting up under the eyes that some people suffer with should not be plucked. First off plucking can actually cause scarring and pigment change in extreme cases. It also encourages additional growth and stronger re-growth and here's why. When a beard hair is plucked it's being torn away form it's root (papilla) and ripped from it's follicle, sometimes with root sheath included, it hurts! but with NO long term benefit, NO gain for your PAIN. Strong words I know but that's what's happening. Your body's immediate reaction is to increase blood supply to the area to initiate healing and produce another hair. There are instances where enough damage is done to render the follicle redundant but this is the exception and happens more in some areas of the body than others, the face isn't one of them, sadly! Because of the way the hair was removed (plucked/waxed, torn out) the body will endeavour to produce a stronger hair next time round. There is a possibility that the hair will become deeper rooted and stronger/thicker and possibly darker.... These hairs are harder to treat and require more energy and ultimately discomfort than would otherwise have been the case. By plucking a hair you might strengthen the follicle to a point where laser won't touch it and electrolysis with higher than normal energy will be required to disable it. Remember the hair itself is just the "fruit" of the follicle. To prevent another hair the follicle has to be disabled. Laser does have some success but more often than not electrolysis is needed to finish an area and get rid of the stubborn hairs or the grey or red hairs that laser doesn't generally touch. I haven't heard of any results on a beard with IPL and I think it's a waste of time and money. I'd be a little wary of anyone offering electrolysis and IPL together, it's pretty common knowledge among electrologists that IPL isn't effective.
At first plucking can appear to be improving an area with the hairs appearing finer when they rear their ugly heads again, this is an illusion. When a hair first appears above the skin it will be fine and pointed, as it grows within the follicle below the skin it will become thicker as all hairs do. It's not often with a male beard that this is apparent as this will normally occur out of site between other thicker hairs which disguise what's actually happening. It would be hard to see this without proper magnification and who would really take the time to look anyway.
Sometimes when a hair is plucked enough damage is done to the follicle to cause a plug of scar tissue to block the follicle. This doesn't prevent another hair from forming, the hair will grow away quite happily beneath the skin creating an ingrown hair. Ingrowns apart from being unsightly are difficult to treat and can end up getting infected and causing scarring as a result of digging around in an attempt to remove them. People familiar with waxing their legs and bikini area will probably know what I am talking about.
I hope this helps
